Overview
- Markets across the country opened for the season with reinforced perimeters, private security and close police coordination after past vehicle attacks.
- Berlin launched key venues including the Gedächtniskirche market, Rotes Rathaus, Gendarmenmarkt and Charlottenburg Palace sites.
- Cologne introduced a tailored security plan developed with police that adds an extra anti-terror barrier and deploys private guards.
- The 2024 vehicle attack in Magdeburg that killed five women and a child remains a focal point, with the driver now on trial in that city.
- New local requirements for certified barriers have sharply raised costs—Dresden’s protection budget climbed from €800,000 to about €4 million—and led some organizers to consider not opening.